Dreamcatchers

To make these watercolour dreamcatcher artworks, the first step was to create a mandala. Students measured the centre point of their paper and drew a circle with a radius of 10cm using a compass. They then segmented their circle into eighths. Each segment of the circle had to be the same and students repeated their original segment design 7 more times to complete the mandala. They then drew feathers attached to strings hanging from their mandala design to give the effect of a dreamcatcher. The mandala and feathers were then outlined with permanent markers to make the lines stand out. Children then used oil pastels to select small parts of their dreamcatchers to colour in – deciding which sections coloured would add interest (and resist watercolour paint in the next step). The final step was to saturate the whole page using a water spray bottle and splotching watercolour paint over the page to create a background. Once the paint had been added, the picture was then held up and the excess water and paint dripped off the picture, creating an interesting effect.

Mixed Media Portraits

Students used a range of scrap paper materials to create collage backgrounds for their portraits. They then used watered down black acrylic paint to very carefully draw the outline of their faces and facial features on the page. Minor details of the face were coloured including the eyes and lips. The final step was to use watered down white acrylic paint to white-wash the background of the portraits, leaving the face clear to have contrasting bold and muted colours.